If the FCC auction is too slow for you, bypass it altogether and attempt to buy spectrum from someone who already have access; that’s the tactics AT&T have used to get their hands on sections of the 700MHz band that were sold off in the last round of government sales.  In a deal approved by the FCC this week, AT&T will pay Aloha Partners, a privately held partnership, $2.5bn for licences it claims cover 196m potential customers in 281 markets. 

According to AT&T, there is significant overlap between the spectrum it has just acquired and that being auctioned off; in fact, 72 of the top 100 US markets are the same.

The current auction, by the end of round 35, has reached almost $19bn (choose Auction 73 from the drop-down list).